Adams: Med campus shows UGA evolving

ATLANTA - A proposed new Medical College of Georgia satellite in Athens is part of an evolving mission for the University of Georgia, UGA President Michael Adams said Tuesday.

In remarks to the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta, Adams briefly touched on the issue of the MCG satellite as an example of how the state's main land-grant institution's mission is changing from the agricultural focus of past decades.

Adams said the health sciences initiative that includes the MCG satellite is part of UGA's "responsibility to the people going forward," pointing out a sharp shortage of physicians in the state.

Gov. Sonny Perdue set off a political dust-up in January when he included $3.8 million in his budget proposal to plan for a medical school and research campus at the soon-to-be-closed U.S. Navy Supply Corps School in Athens.

Augusta residents and civic leaders worried that placing a satellite campus near UGA could shift the medical college's research focus to the Athens area, and the Georgia General Assembly eventually approved $2.8 million to allow the regents to look at medical school expansion in an undesignated place.

The remarks were part of Adams' comments on the changing nature of land-grant institutions, which were created under federal legislation passed during the Civil War. Adams said the work UGA has done helped Georgia become one of the top five agricultural states in the country and was a major reason the university brings in about $300 million a year in royalties.

But the university's mission is changing as new avenues for research open up in areas such as genetics, Adams said. Meanwhile, UGA, Georgia Tech and Emory University combined generate almost as much research funding as the famed universities in North Carolina, Adams said.

"That would have been unthinkable in this state even 10 or 12 years ago," he said.

Adams also addressed several other topics during his speech and a question-and-answer session afterward, including whether rising admissions standards at UGA had made it more difficult for students to get into the university.

"April is the worst month of the year," Adams said, referring to the month when UGA releases its final admissions decisions.

More than 17,000 students applied for just 4,800 spots in this year's freshman class, Adams said.

However, he said expanding the UGA campus to try to accommodate more students would not help. Beyond teachers and classrooms, there are infrastructure issues like water, roads and sidewalks that would prevent the university from handling many more than the 50,000 people - including students, employees and visitors - that are on campus on an average day.